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Io re sono e sono amante. Il mio amor è un brutto affanno, il mio regno è un bel malanno, ma la taglia è peggio ancor. Quando volgo il mio pensiero alla mia crudel Lisetta, par che irato amor mi metta mille diavoli nel cor. Ch'io son re poi mi rammento, e dai stimoli di gloria cose a far degne d'istoria infiammar mi sento allor. Ma la solita paura smorza amor, la gloria oscura, e aver parmi sulla groppa il sicario che m'accoppa e con qualche botta ria mi risana in sempiterno dall'eroïca pazzia della gloria e dell'amor.
Authorship
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Giovanni Paisiello (1740 - 1816), "Io re sono e sono amante", 1784, first performed 1784, from opera Il re Teodoro in Venezia, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Andrew Schneider) , "I am a king and a lover.", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-06-05
Line count: 20
Word count: 98
I am king and a lover. My love is a cruel torment, my kingdom a great misfortune, but my rewards are even worse. When I turn my thoughts to my cruel Lisetta, Love seems to place within my heart one thousand devils. I remember then that I am king, and glory stimulates me and inflames my inner being to accomplish doughty, historic deeds. But my accustomed fear extinguishes love and obscures glory, and, feeling as I do on my shoulders a hitman just waiting to bump me off, with a low blow I am cured forever and ever of the insane heroics of glory and love.
Authorship
- Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2018 by Andrew Schneider, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Giovanni Battista Casti (1724 - 1803)
This text was added to the website: 2018-06-05
Line count: 17
Word count: 106